How to Identify a Bad Sales System

There are plenty of actions a business owner can take every day to boost business. A common fallback when revenue is low is to increase the amount spent on marketing & lead generation.

It makes sense. More advertising should generate more leads, which should lead to more revenue.

Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. Sometimes, regardless of how much marketing you do, ultimately the fault lies with your sales system.

This is why you should have your salesmen keep track of their numbers and report on them regularly.

Unfortunately, and more often than you’d expect, a company’s sales system is to blame when it comes to low revenue. Lucky for you, it is an absolutely fixable problem.

But recognizing the symptoms of a failing sales system isn’t always easy to the untrained eye.

Here are Some Tell-Tale Signs That Your Sales System Needs Improvement:

Your company’s services are denied for one or two reasons

Salesmen commonly negotiate price or are beat out by a lower price offer

Customers ask for a second estimate, scheduled for a time when both decision makers are present

Sales rates are below %50

One or two of these symptoms may seem a bit extreme. We admit, a 50% sales rate is nothing to shake a stick at, but it’s absolutely achievable with the right sales system.

In fact, all of these symptoms are easily overcome with just a little practice, all of which are covered extensively in our Painting Business Pro courses.

Take for instance the third symptom:

Customers ask for a second estimate, scheduled for a time when both decision makers are present

This is a common mistake we see in new painting businesses. “Can I get an estimate scheduled?” often overrides the question “Should I actually schedule this estimate?”

What we mean by that is newer salesmen will take what they can get as far as booking an estimate. Getting your foot in the door is good right?

But if a household is run by two decision makers, then an estimate should be performed when both are present.

Remember, painting a home can be a costly investment for the owner. What are the odds of booking a multi-thousand dollar job, if those decision makers discuss whether or not and upgrade to their cable package is ‘in the budget.’

Setting your sales up for a high chance of getting the ‘yes’ is just one variable to consider when refining your process.

One of the other symptom examples:

Your company’s services are denied for one or two reasons

Is a little less evident than the others, as to how it could indicate a bad sales system. To understand it better, it’s helpful to understand what those ‘reasons’ are: excuses.

We prefer to term them as ‘objections,’ but they’re essentially the same. Objections are weak, temporary standpoints based on a customer’s perspective.

Being able to recognize and overcome objections is the mark of a good salesman. Do sales long enough, and you’d be able to predict what kind of objections you’d likely encounter based on a customer’s personality type.

Furthermore, you’d alter the way you overcome those objections in a way that complements that personality type. This is actually one of the most valuable skills a salesman has, and EVERY good salesman has it.

There are many other factors that make up a good sales system, but the list is far too long to write about in an article.

Realistically, there are only two routes to fixing a failing sales system:

Time Spent Practicing Sales Through Trial & Error

Going Through a Sales Coaching Program

Trust us when we say, going through a coaching program is incredibly valuable. Once you consistently hit a high sales rate across the board, you can scale that model to nearly any revenue tier. All it takes is the infrastructure & dialing in your marketing.

In one of our upcoming articles, we’ll be going over a few tactics when it comes to marketing your business & how to get low cost leads (sometimes even free).

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About Me

I’m Eric Barstow, creator of Painting Business Pro, founder of National Painting Group & Foothills Painting, Co-Owner of Painter Choice. I’m disrupting the painting industry, and helping thousands of painters start or improve their businesses. I love what I do!